"A tree that can fill the span of a man's arms grows from a downy tip; a terrace nine storeys high rises from hodfuls of earth." To ensure that the tree of China-ASEAN friendship remains evergreen, the soil of social support for our relations should be fertile.
— Speech given by Xi Jinping at the People’s Representative Council of Indonesia, October 3, 2013
A Tree That Can Fill the Span of a Man's
Arms Grows from a Downy Tip
— Enriching the soil from which the tree of friendship between China and ASEAN grows
October 2-8, 2013, Xi Jinping visited Indonesia and Malaysia before attending the APEC CEO Summit in Bali, Indonesia. During his tour, he delivered a speech before the People's Representative Council of Indonesia entitled "Work Together to Build a China-ASEAN Community of Shared Destiny," in which he cited the following quotation, "A tree that can fill the span of a man's arms grows from a downy tip; a terrace nine storeys high rises from hodfuls of earth." This vivid imagery expressed his vision of developing friendship and cooperation between China and ASEAN member states by enriching the soil of bilateral relations.
The above quotation was taken from chapter 64 of Dao De Jing. The full text reads:
It is easy to maintain a situation while it is still secure; it is easy to deal with a situation before symptoms develop; it is easy to break a thing when it is yet brittle; it is easy to dissolve a thing when it is yet minute. Deal with a thing while it is still nothing; keep a thing in order before disorder sets in. A tree that can fill the span of a man's arms grows from a downy tip; a terrace nine storeys high rises from hodfuls of earth; a journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one's feet. Whoever does anything to it will ruin it; whoever lays hold of it will lose it. Therefore the sage, because he does nothing, never ruins anything; and, because he does not lay hold of anything, loses nothing. In their enterprises the people always ruin them when on the verge of success. Be as careful at the end as at the beginning and there will be no mined enterprises. Therefore the sage desires not to desire and does not value goods which are hard to come by; learns to be without learning and makes good the mistakes of the multitude in order to help the myriad creatures to be natural and to refrain from daring to act.
Laozi had the surname Li and the given name Er. He was also known by the courtesy name Dan. The founder of Daoism and the reputed author of Dao De Jing, Laozi is considered one of the greatest philosophers and thinkers in Chinese history. Dao De Jing, which is also known by the rifles Laozi and Five-Thousand-Character Text by Laozi, consists of 81 chapters. It is an important source of Daoist philosophy and is believed to be the first full-length philosophical work in Chinese history. Dao De Jing presents many simple examples of dialectics and materialism, and advocates the concept of governing by doing nothing. It has had a profound influence on the development of Chinese philosophy.
"A tree that can fill the span of a man's arms grows from a downy rip; a terrace nine storeys high rises from hodfuls of earth." The next line in the text is better known, "A journey of a thousand miles starts from beneath one's feet." Based on the concept of "big from small," this quotation sets forth the pattern by which things develop and transform: All things start out small. In order to achieve great success, one must first do little things.
China and ASEAN member states are friendly neighbors linked by land and sea. Since 1991, by which time China had established diplomatic relations with all ASEAN countries, bilateral exchanges and cooperation in political, economic, and cultural areas have continued to deepen and grow. In his speech, Xi Jinping proposed building a "China-ASEAN community of shared destiny," which would allow us to enjoy closer relations that encouraged concerted efforts, mutual development, and shared prosperity.
Relations between friendly countries are similar to relationships with family and friends: Close contact and frequent interaction deepen emotional ties and prevent the parties involved from drifting apart. Xi Jinping used statistics to illustrate the close contact between China and ASEAN member states. In 2012, 15 million visitors traveled between China and ASEAN countries, and more than 1,000 flights shuttled between the two areas every week. This frequent interaction is evidence of the close ties. While high-level officials engaging in diplomacy, economics, and trade account for some of the exchanges, a significant portion is simply ordinary citizens going sightseeing— China and ASEAN countries are each other's major tourism source markets. As interaction grows, it will naturally lead to greater understanding at the social, economic, and cultural levels. With such understanding, it is possible to form stronger bonds that lead to deeper friendships. This is the "soil for bilateral relations" that Xi Jinping discussed in his speech.
For the friendship between China and ASEAN countries to mature into a towering tree, it must first grow "from a downy tip" and rise "from hodfuls of earth." Exchanges and cooperation of all kinds form the "downy tip" and "hodfuls of earth" in this friendship, which prompted the Chinese government to propose designating 2014 as China-ASEAN Cultural Exchange Year. China is willing to send more volunteers to support the development of cultural, educational, health, and medical endeavors in ASEAN countries. If the tree of friendship is to remain evergreen, it is necessary to nurture the "downy tips" and gather "hodfuls of earth" for the future. Over the next three to five years, China will offer 15,000 government-sponsored scholarships to people in ASEAN countries, thereby increasing the talent pool to support the development of China-ASEAN relations. Young people represent the future. Increasing meaningful communication and interaction between them creates more opportunities for friendship to take root. Only then will the friendship between China and each member of ASEAN have enough fertile soil to grow "a tree that can fill the span of a man's arms" or to build "a terrace nine storeys high."
(An excerpt from XI JINPING: WIT AND VISION SELECTED QUOTATIONS AND COMMENTARY, published by FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS in 2015)
